Both my parents were small business owners, and I learned early on that when Canada’s small businesses thrive, so do our families and communities. 

After all, Canadian small and medium-sized businesses are the heartbeat of the Canadian economy: they make up 64 per cent of private sector jobs and contribute to approximately 50 per cent of our national GDP. Many are family-owned and driven by a strong sense of purpose, rooted in wanting to better the communities that they serve. They understand their customers’ intimately because they are speaking to them every day. Nowhere is this more obvious than in some of our greatest Canadian success stories, such as online jewellery retailer Mejuri, which is committed to sourcing sustainable gold, or successful underwear brand Knix, which has changed the conversation around women’s health.

But achieving this kind of success is challenging: smaller businesses are more vulnerable to inflation and interest rate increases that affect consumer and business spending. Additionally, owners often struggle with the need to wear multiple hats—needing to be experts in human resources one moment, and finance or marketing the next. 

Fortunately, Canada’s smallest businesses are now getting the opportunity to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to drive growth, save time and money. AI advances have leveled the playing field, enabling small businesses to compete far beyond their local main street. 

The impact of this will be significant. Google Canada’s latest Economic Impact Report shows that generative AI has the potential to boost Canada’s economy by $230 billion and save the average Canadian worker more than 175 hours a year. For small business owners, AI-powered tools can boost revenue, save time and money, help them understand their customers, use data for improved decision-making, and ultimately navigate uncertainty. 

However, while small business owners are increasingly expressing interest in using AI, we’re also hearing that many are not sure where to start. The same report found that only 27 per cent of Canadian small and medium sized businesses are currently using AI. Four out of ten say they would need support to bring AI into their operations.

When I speak to small business owners, my advice is always to start small—learning and adopting new technologies takes time. The most important first step is to adopt an AI mindset.

What does this entail? It begins with implementing AI in areas that are most impactful, like sales and marketing, and making small, incremental improvements over time. In his book, Atomic Habits, James Clear writes about the concept of compounding growth for learning. It’s a simple concept that has really stuck with me: if you improve just one per cent each day, over the course of a year, you will have increased your impact by 38 times.

A one per cent improvement can mean just starting one task to help you save time. For example, use Gemini for Workspace to summarize the top five action items in your inbox this week, and then use it next week to write three different versions of a marketing email subject line based on the same email. Product Studio, a free AI-powered tool that creates professional-looking product visuals for online stores and marketing campaigns, can alleviate the need for extensive design skills or resources.

From there, begin to build. Use experiments to learn what works and what’s driving results. For retailers, experiment early in the year to prepare for back-to-school or Black Friday. Use the lower risk moments to learn, and then expand on what is working and continue to explore new opportunities.

And then finally, appoint internal AI champions—employees who can help others develop their own AI skills. To be most successful, AI should be embraced by the whole organization, no matter how big or small, and champions can provide inspiration by showing what’s possible and how AI can help raise the tide for everyone.

Building AI skills is an area that Google has been actively investing in. We have just launched a new AI for small businesses course, which is a free resource that explains the basics of AI, and how AI-powered tools can help them simplify their work, save time and drive innovation.  It builds on Google AI Essentials, an online, self-paced course we launched last year. Now the all-time most popular generative AI course on Coursera, it helps people across roles and industries get the essential AI skills needed to boost their productivity. 

I encourage all small businesses to think of AI as a competitive advantage to drive growth and efficiency. One of my favourite examples of businesses leaning into AI is Karen’s Flower Shop in Milton, Ont. A 58-year-old multi-generational family business, they’ve managed to use AI marketing tools to better target their ad campaigns to customers who were more likely to buy from them. Having first started small by experimenting with Google’s Performance Max, once they tested it and learned from it, the end result was a 10 per cent increase in sales and more time to focus on creating impressive floral arrangements. 

Another example of a business we’ve spoken to that have benefited from adopting an AI mindset is Transformer Table, a Quebec-based table manufacturer. They used AI to identify the right markets for expansion, geotargeted their advertising to the areas with the best returns, and ultimately increased  sales of their tables by 35 per cent and revenue by 55 per cent year over year. 

Related: Why Small Businesses Need Commercial Rent Control

As Karen’s Flowers and Transformer Table show, fostering an AI mindset can drive sustainable growth and profit, even amidst uncertainty and global economic challenges. As Canadian small businesses navigate the year ahead, we’re excited to continue leveling the playing field by investing in AI, and ensuring that small businesses have the skills and resources they need to increase AI adoption. Every Canadian business, whether it’s a mom and pop shop on Main Street, or a large company, has an opportunity to unlock more growth by adopting an AI mindset.

And when Canada’s small businesses win, so do our families, our communities, and our economy.